Future Tar Heel point guard Marcus Paige was selected to play for the West in the McDonald’s All-American game becoming the latest in a long line of Tar Heel recruits to play in the game. Paige, who hails from Lin-Mar HS in Marion, Iowa is the 29th ranked player according to Scout.com but the #2 point guard in the class. Unlike past years, Paige will be the only incoming Tar Heel at the game that usually sees multiple UNC players on the roster. The same is true for Duke who will have Rasheed Sulaimon in the game. In a rare coup, NC State has three incoming players named to the East team: Rodney Purvis, T.J. Warren and Tyler Lewis.
The incoming class for UNC is solid but not spectacular. This is a group that at worst will be complimentary and at best develop into high caliber players. Paige is the most likely candidate to fulfill his potential. Assuming Kendall Marshall stays, Paige will be a solid backup who is also a capable scorer. Speaking of scoring, Paige went for 46 points a couple weeks back. Here are the highlights.
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Wow. NCSU has three players in this game and Duke has one.
Paige is listed at 6’1″ and a whopping 165lb.
Not the best showing for the ACC. But congratulations to NCSU.
Paige looks like he can be a quick shooter.
What is it with Roy and left handed point guards?
^If they all work out the way Marshall has I have no problem with it.
Link to UNC recruit page: http://espn.go.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/school/_/id/153/north-carolina-tar-heels
’12-’13 = Slim scoring from bigs; Bullock & Hairston & LMac NEED to remember how to fill it up; Kendall needs to score 12ppg; lots of players, so whoever’s not producing on O or D will see extended sittage time
PG K.Marshall / M.Paige(FR)
SG D.Strickland / L.MacDonald
SF R.Bullock / PJHairston / JPTokoto(FR)
PF JMMcAdoo / B.Johnson(FR)
C J.James(FR) / D.Hubert
Boy, I’d predict JMM and Johnson instead of JJames; Roy has never cared to delineate between power forwards and centers so there’s no need to shoehorn James into the starting lineup just to have a “center” on the floor.
The game in that video looks like an intramural game–a lot of white guys who are under 6’2.” I’m sure Paige will be a fine player, but footage from that game isn’t worth the film it was shot on in terms of predicting how he’ll play in D I.
^Perhaps, rabbit, perhaps. I imagine both B.Johnson & J.James will have trouble scoring (as all UNC freshman seem to do), so it’ll come down to rebounding & defense.
Link to high school stats of future heelsL: http://northcarolina.scout.com/3/commitmentstats12.html#marshall
Really no chance of this, but it would be cool:
PG – Marshall/Paige
SG – Strickland/McDonald
SF – Hairston/Tokoto
PF – Bullock/Johnson
C – MacAdoo/James/Hubert
Play like Missouri, minus the Frank Haith part. I don’t like our frontline next year given MacAdoo’s troubles this year, and Johnson/James not showing much offensive ability (per recruiting guru’s and sites)
The HS player rankings are usually pretty accurate , but sometimes I’d rather see some of these “4 star” recruits (man, some almost make that sound like a recruiting failure) come in and surprise (not uncommon….that’s how ‘all the rest’ compete well) than have such high expectations for the cream-of-the crop guys, then have people think they’re not doing much.
I like what Roy has to say about all the guys in the incoming class and Paige seems like he will be a perfect fit.
Couple things about next year’s roster:
1. I have no problems saying that JMM will be a star, the #1 big-man in Roy’s system almost always is, and JMM really just needs minutes to let his skills shine. Think, Nick Collison.
2. I wouldn’t be so quick to assume a roster sans Harrison Barnes. If UNC does not win it all this year, it would not surprise me in the least if he came back. If that is the case, and Henson does leave, then I expect that he would start at the 4-position.
harrison at the 4 would be so painful to watch
^ Barnes at the 4 would get to the line 15+ times a game. He’d need to learn to rebound though.
^and make free throws
^Well, he is shooting 71.5% from the line, so that would certainly be a massive improvement over the current PF…
As for the rebounds, that doesn’t really concern me. I really think the biggest reason most of the other Heels have such low rebounding #s is because Henson and Zeller are grabbing so many. Of course, we won’t know until next year how much truth there is in that.
The real fall off next year will be on blocked shots, as I don’t think there is anyway UNC will be able to replace the 4+ bpg that they are getting from Henson and Zeller. But a lot of Roy’s teams in the past (2009 and 2005, fr example), have been relatively weak when it comes to blocking shots, so that might not be a huge issue.
I know I’m unrealistic, but can you imagine if both Henson and Barnes returned for next year? Yes we would dearly miss big-Z’s contributions, but our team would be deep powerhouse of talent! Then you could start comparing the team with all-time greats (2005 & 2009).
OK…back to reality. I’m stoked with the recruits that Roy has been pulling in. Good things to come!
^I don’t think that is anymore unrealistic than a fan in 2008 wondering what would happen if Lawson, Ellington and Hansbrough all came back. Granted, it took several things to make that a reality (including a Final 4 beatdown, and possible a driving/alcohol infraction), but it still happened.
Imagine this: (1) Barnes comes back as a soph, (2) Henson back as a junior, and (3) Z stays for his senior year!!
– With KMarsh as an improved sophmore (I hear he’s perfecting his 3pt shot over the summer) plus the addition of a monster recruiting class (Mac & Hairston may be 1&done’s)…we just might go UNDEFEATED in ’11-’12!
I’m not saying they’d go undefeated…but I think they’d be deep enough to compare to 2005 & 2009…and still handle a couple injuries by key players (ie McDonald and Strickland). I never thought this current team would go undefeated…I did however think they’d be better.
I was simply fantasizing about the best possible scenario for next season…probably since this season hasn’t gone as well as I had hoped…so far…knock on wood!
It would be great for one or more of the starters to return next year.
They will decide what to do at the end of the season and the coaching staff will have to plan accordingly.
No program is ever seamless when you have big names coming and going. UNC has done very well retaining players who would benefit from more time in college and that is a credit to the program as a whole.
Yes there were three players who left recently to transfer to another program.
The value has been there for both players and fans during the Roy Williams era. But there have been unique factors as well. TWO national championship teams and a pre-season freshman named an All American are confounding. I think these have been dealt with well.
When you add in the crazy expectations placed on UNC players, they have collectively done well. The statistical probability of doing things that have been commonly predicted such as going undefeated for the season, going undefeated in the ACC, and winning a national championship is extremely small.
At this point we have a reduced team who have lost two players to ACL injuries. Yet they continue to have the opportunity to have a memorable season. The Duke loss was tragic, but it was in keeping with the history and tradition of the rivalry.
Boy Williams, you’re too subtle in your time warps. You need to use more capital letters.
By the way, Generalissimo Francisco Franco may still be dead but the Tar Heels certainly haven’t been eliminated from going undefeated for the remainder of ACC.
I really think Heel in Purple has it right.
We will have 6 players that have “earned” 20+ minutes per game:
Marshall, Strickland, McDonald, Bullock, Hairston, McAdoo
Its possible that Paige or Johnson might play themselves into this level of minutes, but I strongly doubt it. Neither Hubert nor James, will be ready for much more than 10 minutes/game.
So, hopefully, Roy will use the players he has, and not wish he actually had polished bigmen. This means going “small” and giving Bullock 15+ minutes a game at the 4. Maybe, we can even play full court pressure defense with this group?
The way I see our minutes at the 4/5:
McAdoo 30 Minutes
Bullock 18 Minutes
Hubert 12 Minutes
Johnson 12 Minutes
James 8 Minutes
Can anyone seriously see any of Hubert/Johnson/James playing much more than 15 minutes/game?
^ their moms
Whats up with this Nerlens Noel kid?
The four letter network has him at #1 above Shabazz and UNC as one of many that has given him an offer…
When is the final date for making his decision?
A guy like that would change the frontcourt for next year.